Comcast DTA & Windows 7 Media Center

reductant

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
305
Okay, so Comcast made the digital switch and I'm using the digital adapter. Now I have to leave my hauppauge wintv-1600 analog tuner set to channel 3 & must change channels using the Comcast remote. My IR receiver (that came w/ the tuner card) is plugged into the card, and I have run the IR blaster app they provided.

When I try to run the setup in media center, I always get stopped at the cable set top box page, with a message that no IR hardware is detected. I saw on a web page that I have purchase this eHome IR blaster from hauppauge in order to set up the digital adapter.

I want to be able to control the digital adapter from the PC & to be able to use the guide in media center to schedule recordings, etc.

Is there anyway I can get this to happen?
 
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Is there anyway I can get this to happen?
No. There are two solutions to tuning encrypted digital channels on a pc, ati's tv wonder digital cable tuner (around $200) or Ceton's digital tuner ($400) and both require cable cards, other than that you must use your remote to change the channel on the comcast box.
 
Why won't a Harmony work?

It might work for tuning the box but not through media center which is what I am assuming he wants it do? The cable box will only out put channel 3 and 4 (depends on box) so if you want to record something your guide listings in media center will only be for the one channel, so you wont be able to record other channels. You could record at same time if you know a show is going to be on and have the cable box set to that channel. But there isn't a way to control the box through media center.
 
Yeah, you are right. My understanding is that I need to purchase a certified MCE IR blaster (I purchased the non-MCE Hauppauge card), so that's why I can't get the digital adapter to set up in MC. And even if I do purchase a MCE-certified IR blaster & remote and get the DTA set up, it would just basically give me a MC remote that controls the box & lets me navigate around MC. But I still wouldn't be able to set recordings from MC because I'd have to keep the tuner set to channel 3/4.

I can still turn to the channel and record shows and MC still records the 30 min buffer, so that's something, I guess. It's been a good few years, but now I guess I'd have to shell out the big bucks if I want to schedule recordings & be able to change the channel directly from MC.
 
Yeah, you are right. My understanding is that I need to purchase a certified MCE IR blaster (I purchased the non-MCE Hauppauge card), so that's why I can't get the digital adapter to set up in MC. And even if I do purchase a MCE-certified IR blaster & remote and get the DTA set up, it would just basically give me a MC remote that controls the box & lets me navigate around MC. But I still wouldn't be able to set recordings from MC because I'd have to keep the tuner set to channel 3/4.

I can still turn to the channel and record shows and MC still records the 30 min buffer, so that's something, I guess. It's been a good few years, but now I guess I'd have to shell out the big bucks if I want to schedule recordings & be able to change the channel directly from MC.

Yeah, I know, it sucks, comcast has been lowering the quality and removing channels from their analog lineup. As of right now there are only two solutions to record encrypted channels and they are both pricey and hard to come by.
 
No. There are two solutions to tuning encrypted digital channels on a pc, ati's tv wonder digital cable tuner (around $200) or Ceton's digital tuner ($400) and both require cable cards, other than that you must use your remote to change the channel on the comcast box.

There is also a product coming from Silicon Dust that is a triple tuner cable card box. It seams that product might even have support for Tru2Way so if someone could write a plugin for WMC7 then we could have access to OnDemand. Otherwise with any cable card solution you loose access to OnDemand.
 
Yeah, you are right. My understanding is that I need to purchase a certified MCE IR blaster (I purchased the non-MCE Hauppauge card), so that's why I can't get the digital adapter to set up in MC. And even if I do purchase a MCE-certified IR blaster & remote and get the DTA set up, it would just basically give me a MC remote that controls the box & lets me navigate around MC. But I still wouldn't be able to set recordings from MC because I'd have to keep the tuner set to channel 3/4.

I can still turn to the channel and record shows and MC still records the 30 min buffer, so that's something, I guess. It's been a good few years, but now I guess I'd have to shell out the big bucks if I want to schedule recordings & be able to change the channel directly from MC.

So I did some more researching because comcast is removing analog on august 10th at my house and I won't be able to record tv on my pc. I think I found what you were talking about. http://digitalmediaphile.com/index.php/2009/04/17/setup-a-comcast-dta-with-mce/

The only problem is an ir blaster is hard to come by for a pc. I found one remote on newegg that comes with one, one ir blaster box on amazon and there are a few tv cards on newegg that come with an ir blaster port. And I honestly don't know if they will work with the cable box. I think I might buy one just to try it out.

This might work. Although I'm not sure it will work in windows seven, but its $17 so i think I might try it out.
 
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Ok so I have some great news for you! So I bought this remote from newegg. It comes with an ir blaster. I followed this guide. Now windows can change the channel on the cable box, it is a little slow but it is better than nothing. So you can enjoy all the normal functionality of windows media center! Although you must leave the cable box on, I haven't found a way for windows to turn it on.
 
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Ok so I have some great news for you! So I bought this remote from newegg. It comes with an ir blaster. I followed this guide. Now windows can change the channel on the cable box, it is a little slow but it is better than nothing. So you can enjoy all the normal functionality of windows media center! Although you must leave the cable box on, I haven't found a way for windows to turn it on.

Excellent news! So you can change the channel with the keyboard and can set recordings using the guide?
 
Excellent news! So you can change the channel with the keyboard and can set recordings using the guide?

Yes, it is kind of slow so you can't really channel surf otherwise your cable box will lag like 10 channels behind media center. It takes about 3 or 4 seconds to change the channel because media center types in the number and not just channel up or channel down. But other than that it works great, I have done some recordings, you got to leave the cable box on though, media center wont turn it on, but it will change the channel at the scheduled time.
 
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